Core Miner's Log
01 Feb 2022Veladarius
After spending a number of months casually mining the rings of the same planet I figured I would share my experiences and such for those looking to start or collect materials a bit faster.- My mining ship
If you ask pilots what ship they use for core mining I don't think 'Alliance Challenger' is mentioned often but that is what I have been using. Lots of internal module bays, several centerline hardpoints and maneuverability are the main characteristics I wanted and this had them all. The mining related specs include a 72t cargo hold, class 1 prospector limpet controller, class 3 collector limpet controller, class 2B refinery, class 1 abrasion blaster (centerline) and a class 2 seismic charge launcher (also centerline). Generally I will take 16 limpets as I generally mine 5 asteroids per trip with 3 limpets per asteroid and one extra. Some of the additional specs are a 6A engineered shield generator, 3 multi cannons and 2 beam lasers and additional hull and module reinforcements in the military bays allow me to fight off the usual pirates to around competent level even if they are in an Anaconda. I am pretty used to the Challenger as I have been using them for a long time now and have one built to hunt Elite level Pirate Lords in Federal Corvettes.
- Mining
The rings I mine have hotspots of Alexandrite (2 not overlapping), Musgravite and Monazite but I have also found Benitiote and Serendibite regularly and are in a pristine uninhabited system.
I have found that some of the denser pockets of asteroids are not at the center of the hotspot but can be a few hundred km out. How I choose where to enter the rings is this:
1- line up between the planet and hotspot
2- when approaching the hotspot look at the variations in ring density, particularly where it transitions from low to high
3- look for a density transition closest to the ring center (area I mine this is around 350 km out +/- 50 km) and enter where the transition from low to high is at about mid point
4- start working towards the center until you start finding asteroids with cores. Usually I will find a band in the rings about 50 km deep that has fairly high density and will work within that section of the rings going with the rings and perpendicular to the hotspot (keeping it to my left or right). The hard part with this is remembering which direction you are going so you need to pay attention to where the asteroid is in relation to the ring (high, low or middle) so you can continue on in the same direction and not go back and forth over the same area constantly.
5- you may have to travel a few hundred km depending on how far out you are until you find the right area but I have found multiple bands of high concentrations of core asteroids with 100km+ between them.
Sometimes you may drop into an area that is sparse especially if you tend to mine the same areas so I rotate between the hotspots where I am at.
I have generally been selling what I mine from my carrier at about 2/3 the high average price in the area so my selling prices range from 250k/t to 450k/t depending on the materials so I make a tidy profit and so does the buyer. If I get 300+ tons in storage I will take them myself, there are lots of refinery stations nearby that usually have a decent demand for it all. Doing this and usually only making a few mining runs a week I have made over a Billion credits in a few months.
I have also found when doing asteroid surface mining the richest parts have been in the seams where the ring density changes but if you are hitting a double or triple hotspot it doesn't matter as much.
So find yourself a good pristine system and take some time to 'read the rings' to find the best places to hit in each hotspot and save yourself some aggravation because you can't find enough to make it worth the time you are spending to mine.